Road material spreading machine



W 23, 1939 c. L. GEORGE 2,159,554

ROAD MATERIAL SPREADING MACHINE Filed April 16, 1937 FIEE l i I v m .15 P u Char/e5 L. Geo/"ye Patented May 23, 1939 t Buckeye Traction Ditcher Company, Findlay,-

' Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application April16, 1937, Serial No. 137,359

rear side of the hopper, in the present instance 7 Claims.

This invention relates'to machines for spreading crushed stone, gravel, or other similar road surfacing material, and particularly to the discharge, control feature of such machine.

The object of the invention is the provision in a machine of the class described of a discharge control shutter, which is mounted for compound adjusting movements, together with a. control therefor, whereby its inclination may be changed without varying the spacing of its free edge with respect to the feed wheel, or the spacing of its ,free edge with respect to the feed wheel varied without changing its inclination, or both of said adjustments effected together, as the kind of 1B material used, its coarseness and condition, that is, whether dry or moist, may require.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description, and from the accompanying drawing, in which- I Figure 1 is an end elevation of a device embodying the invention, with a part broken away; Fig. 2 is a rear elevation thereof; Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary section on the line 3-3 in Fig. 2, and Figs. 4 and 5 are enlarged fragmentary 1 sections on the line 4-4 in Fig. 2, with the control parts in different positions of adjustment.

Referring to the drawing, -l designates a hopper having a wheel support 2 and having, in the present instance, its bottom 3, its rear wall 4 and its end walls 5 cooperating to form a chutelike passage 6, the lower end of which is closed by a feed roll 1 and by the discharge control means embodying the invention.

The feed roll I is driven from the wheels 2,

as well understood in the art, and has its feeding'movements in the direction indicated by the arrows. The low 'rear edge of the hopper bottom 3 substantially meets the periphery of the feed wheel in'a, line forward of and parallel to a vertical plane cutting the axis of the roll lengthwise thereof. The rear wall 4 terminates at its lower edge in a forwardly and downwardly inclined lip 8, which is directed substantially toward the axis of the roll I and terminates in i .30 roll I and is mounted between the two end plates 5 of the hopper with its'forward free edge por-' iion projecting downward and'forward through the space 9 between the lip B and feed roll. The shutter I0 is preferably flat on its top, as shown, and is supported at its rear edge without the at three spaced points, by hanger links H, the lower end of each of which is pivoted to 2. respective eye I2 on the shutter, while its upper end is pivoted to a bracket l3;on the outer side of the rear plate 4 of the hopper. The bracket I3 is preferably provided with at least two vertically spaced apertures [4 into either one of which a connecting bolt l5 for the link may be mounted, thus facilitating the vertical adjustment of the link pivot. A stiffening strip Ill may, if desired, be secured to the under side of the shutter bar.

The shutter bar l0 at each end is pivotally connected at its under side near its free edge to the forward end of a rearwardly projecting leverlG, each one of which latter is pivoted intermediate its ends to the inner side of each hopper end 5 below the shutter bar, as at IT, and has its rear end connected by a link l8 to the rearwardly projecting end of a bell-crank form of hand control lever l9 pivoted at 20 to the outer side. of the respective end 5 of the hopper. This lever has a hand latch engaging a notched sector 2| to hold the lever in adjusted position. The 2 forward end of the lever l6 has a laterally projecting stud,22 which may be engaged to any one of a series of apertures 23 in a bracket plate 24 attached to the under side of the shutter bar.

In use, the inclination of the'shutter bar and the spacing of its free edge with respect to the periphery of the feed wheel depends on the coarseness or fineness of the material being spread, and upon the flowing nature of such material. The feed roll 1 is preferably provided with spiral grooves which facilitate the discharge of the material, as shown and described in United States Letters Patent No. 2,046,608, to Versal F. Baumgardner, and if a fine dry material, such as sand, is being spread,'the free edge of the shutter plate terminates very close to the periphery of the feed roll and at a point adjacent to the longitudinal vertical plane of the feed roll axis, as shown in Fig. 4. The spacing of the edge of the shutter bar with respect to the feed roll depends on the coarseness'of the material handled. For instance, if the material is crushed stone, it is apparent that such spacing must be greater than ifsand or a relatively fine gravel is used, and also that such spacing must be varied according to the grade of crushed stone or gravel used. It is also desirable when using some materials, and particularly when they are in a moist or wet condition, to increase the inclination of the shutter bar and advance its edge a greater or less distance from the vertical center line of the feed roll axis in a feeding direction, as indicated by the position of the shutter bar in Fig. 5 relative toFig.'4.

The inclination of the shutter bar may be varied without affecting the spacing of its free edge with respect to the feed roll either by shiftj ing the vertical position of the pivot bolts II for the hanger links H, or by changing the pivotal connections 22 of the levers It with the shutter bar and slightly adjusting said levers through an operation of the control levers l9, as desired. Tne spacing of the free edge of the shutter bar ill with respect to the feed wheel, to suit the material being handled, may be effected in any posithe spacing of such bar lengthwise of the feed roll may be varied so that such space is of tapered form, whereby a greater feed may be effected at one end than the other.

It will be apparent that in any operative position of the shutter bar ID with respect to the feed roll, the top of the shutter bar is spaced with respect to the lower edge of the lower edge lip 8 of the rear wall 4, which space is open to the rear of the hopper so as to enable a bar 25 to be freely inserted into the material in the hopper through said space to loosen any clogging thereof that might occur, as indicated in Fig. 4. While such space is open at all times to the rear of the hopper, the material will not flow from the hopper through such space due to the inward inclination of the lip 8 causing it to serve as a deflecting x lip for the material and due to the upward inclination and extension of the shutter bar to the rear of said lip. I

I wish it understood that my invention is not limited to any specific construction, arrangement or form of the parts, as it is capable of numerous modifications and changes without departing from the spirit of the claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent, is:

1. The combination with a material discharge hopper of the class described having a sidewise opening discharge passage and a feed roll forming the bottom wall of said passage, of a shutter bar projecting downwardly and inwardly into said passage and bodily movable backwardly and forwardly therein with its lower edge adjacent to the feed roll, means supporting said shutter for compound pivotal adjusting movements to vary its spacing with respect to the feed roll, and means connected to said bar and operable to impart predetermined adjusting movements thereto.

2. The combination with a material discharge hopper of the class described having a sidewise opening discharge passage at its lower end and a feed roll forming' the bottom wall of said passage,

of a shutter bar projecting downwardly and inwardly into said passage and bodily movable backwardly and forwardly therein with its lower edge terminating adjacent to the top portion of the feed roll, means without the hopper attached to the outer portion of said bar for suspending it for compound swinging movements to vary its position with respect to the feed roll, and meansconnected to said bar and operable to impart predetermined adjusting movements thereto.

3. The combination with a material discharge hopper of the class described having an elongated sidewise opening discharge passage and a feed roll forming the bottom wallof said passage,

links suspendingly pivoted to the outer side of I the hopper above said passage, a shutter bar pivoted to said links and projecting downwardly and inwardly therefrom into said passage and bodily movable backwardly and forwardly therein to provide a material discharge space between its lower edge and said feed roll, and manually operable means connected to said bar and operable to impart compound adjusting movements thereto relative to the feed roll;

4. The combination with a materiatdischarge hopper of the class described having a sidewisc opening discharge passage and a feed roll forming the bottom wall of said passage, of a shutter bar projecting downwardly and inwardly into said passage and bodily movable backwardly and forrelation to the top surface of the feed wheel,

means suspending said bar from the hopper without and above said passage, the bar having a double pivotal connection with the hopper through said means, and means connected to said bar and operable to impart compound movements thereto to vary its position relative to the feed roll and top edge wall of said passage.

5. In combination, a material discharge hopper having a wall terminating at its lower edge in a downwardly .and inwardly extending lip, a feed roll disposed below and having the vertical longitudinal plane of its axis forward of said lip to form the bottom wall of said hopper and cooperating with said lip to form a material feed passage therebetween, a shutter bar adapted for bodily swinging movement inwardly through the passage toward and away from said vertical longitudinal plane of the feed roll axis to regulate the movement of material through the passage,

means for supporting the shutter bar from the hopper, and means connected to the bar and operable to retain the same in predetermined positions of adjustment relative to said feed roll axis.

6. In combination, a hopper having a rear side wall formed with a downwardly extending inturned lip portion, a feed roll below and forwardly of said lip portion and cooperating therewith to form a material discharge passage, a shutter bar extending downwardly and forwardly through said passage, with its top surface spaced from'said lip portion to provide a material loosening space therebetween and with its lower edge terminating adjacent to the top surface of the feed roll to provide a material discharge space therebetween, means for suspending said bar from the hopper for compound adjusting .movements, and means connected to said bar and operable to impart compound adjusting movements to the bar. '7. In combination, a hopper having a rear side wall formed with a downwardly extending inturned lip portion, a feed roll beneath and spaced forwardly of said lip portion and cooperating therewith to form a passage. therebetween, a shutter bar extending downwardly and forwardly through said passage with its top ,surface spaced from said lip portion to provide a material loosen- .ing space therebetween' and with its lower edge terminating adjacent to the top surface of the said roll to provide a material discharge spacetherebetween, movable means connected to the hopper-and to the bar for supporting the bar from the hopper, and means connected to said hopper and bar and operable to cooperate with said suspending means whereby tojmpart compound adjusting movements to the bar so as to 

